The buzz generated by tablet computers, such as the Samsung Electronics Galaxy Tab, has traditional bookstores hoping for increased revenue from digital book content. / Korea Times

By Kim Tong-hyungThe electronic book explosion has been muted here, but optimists see tablet computers, like the Apple iPad, lighting a bigger torch. And traditional bookstores that napped during the debut of dedicated e-book readers are now rushing to develop e-book applications for mobile devices and have them installed in upcoming tablet devices.This has them engaged in an unlikely proxy war driven by the rivalry between Korean technology giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. Kyobo, the nation’s largest bookstore, currently has its e-book applications prepackaged in Samsung’s Galaxy series of smartphones and the partnership will extend to the upcoming Galaxy Tab tablet computers, which Samsung touts as a potential “iPad killer.’’LG Electronics, which has been late to the tablet party, is expected to unveil its first touch-screen computer next year, and it remains to be seen whether it will establish partnerships with book retailers the way Samsung did.There are speculations that YoungPoong, Kyobo’s rival book retailer, could be picked as the applications provider for the new tablet, but LG Electronics officials said nothing has been decided yet.YoungPoong was one of the book retailers and publishing companies that jointly established the Korea Electronic Publishing Hub last year to add to the wealth of e-book content available and create an ecosystem of applications. Bandi and Luni’s, YoungPoong’s rival book chain, and major online retailers Yes 24 and Aladdin, also have stakes in the Korea Electronic Publishing Hub.“The demand for e-books will likely be centered around tablets. The dearth of e-book content continues to be a problem and we have to diversify our content sources to add to the overall pool,’’ said a YoungPoong official.It remains to be seen which device will end up changing reading habits more ― tablets, referring to the all-purpose touch-screen computers like the iPad, or dedicated digital readers for books and newspapers like the Amazon Kindle. At least for Koreans, however, the answer seems obvious as they race to leap on the tablet bandwagon.It was just earlier this year when electronics makers and Internet companies like iriver, InterPark, and Book Cube competed to push dedicated e-book readers out of the gate. However, industry observers say they have since combined to sell less than 50,000 of their products.And although Samsung is promoting its Galaxy Tab heavily, the debut of the tablet doubled as a death sentence to Papyrus, Samsung’s first e-book reader that was just released in February. The sales of Papyrus have been disappointing, with consumers here turned off by the device’s lavish price tag and the lack of a content ecosystem, and Samsung says it now prefers to concentrate on tablets instead.